sound and magic ♥ blue is the warmest color

Currently at Cannes an awaking, intimate portrayal of Lesbian love has everyone buzzing. Blue Is The Warmest Color, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, tells the story of a high school girl, Adèle (played by Adele Exarchopoulos) who falls for, Emma, a very interesting, intriguing older graduate student (played by Lea Seydoux).

Some are only talking about this film because of the sex…which there is a lot of. And by a lot I mean A LOT. There’s one main scene that last 10 whole mins… none of which seems simulated. These actresses threw themselves into the entirety of the roles, especially the sex. Now the unfortunate part of taking such creative chances in film is that it can overshadow what could be…and just might be an amazing work of art for the story alone.

“Charmed but also intimidated by Emma’s maturity and confidence, Adèle enters the relationship at something of a disadvantage, but the sex scenes allow them to gain an equal foothold, their bodies joined together in shared ecstasy. (There’s a reason why they need to be so explicit: We have to believe fully in these two people’s erotic connection, which is palatable, convincing and utterly unadorned.)” - Tim Grierson (Paste Magazine)

People will dwell and gossip about whether it’s too graphic, or too explicit…completely forgetting whether or not the film, at the core, does it’s job. And isn’t it a filmmakers job to tell a story? The best love stories aren’t just butterflies and rainbows. They’re sticky and sweet…and get under your skin So perhaps this isn’t soft porn for male eyes disguised as a lesbian coming of age story. Maybe it’s just about love, period.

“Kechiche’s movie requires patience, but that patience is rewarded by opening up a love affair to show how so much of our personal struggles—about growing up, about trying to trust another person, about getting over our own insecurities—are tangled up in our relationship with a partner.” - Tim Grierson (Paste Magazine)

There are a bevy of brilliant reviews of the film. My favorite of which you can check out at the below links:

www.pastemagazine.com by Tim Grierson “To reveal too much else of Blue’s storyline would be to rob the viewer of the gentle twists and shifts in the characters’ dynamic. But then again, a plot description really doesn’t do justice to the nuance of what Kechiche has achieved. In understated scene after understated scene, the movie organically chronicles how any relationship—straight or gay—evolves over time, skipping the usual loss-of-passion obviousness for something much more insightful.”

www.film.com review by Jordan Hoffman “There’s a “let’s meet for closure” scene that is so heartbreaking, so true and, importantly, so true to these characters and their specific relationship that it (deep breath now) ranks as one of the most emotionally devastating moments I’ve seen in a drama ever.”

www.variety.com by Justin Chang “It’s a simple, even predictable story, yet textured so exquisitely and acted so forcefully as to feel almost revelatory.”

www.hollywoodreporter.com by Jordan Mintzer “ …sex and love can, in the best cases, become one and the same, uniting two people who might actually have less in common than they believe.”